A political pressure group, Better Delta State, on Wednesday called on politicians in the state to support the governorship ambition of the Ijaw ethnic group in the 2023 election for equity and justice.
A statement by the Executive Director of the group, Dr Isaac Obominuru, said the call became necessary after a critical study of political scene since the return of Democracy in May 1999.
Obominuru noted that political representation in Delta had tended to undermine the grand principles that sustained civility and political probity especially as it concerned rotation system in the state.
“In the over twenty-two years of democratic experience, a pivotal issue, including the political context of its production, there has been wanton and arbitrary undermining of the Ijaw gubernatorial aspiration in Delta State politics,” he said.
The Executive Director said the Ijaw can be reckoned with in the number of registered voters allocated to it by a monitoring indicator provided by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) before the 2015 governorship elections.
“Interesting feature of this study reveals that the actual voting constituency in the north and central senatorial districts continue to show a strange declivity in the median due to voters’ apathy, and flattens to as low as between 40 to 64 per cent.
“But those of the Ijaw enclave continues to register as much as between 68 to 93 per cent participation of actual registered voters.
“This study provides an existential clue why the clamor for an Ijaw gubernatorial proposition must be factored as an instructive policy instrument in the Delta State gubernatorial elections.
“A derived analysis from this study indicates a familiar history that should strike a political note of curiosity for any serious observer on voters’ distribution per ethnic category of Delta State,” Obominuru said.
He said that an Ijaw gubernatorial candidate should be supported as a strategy to politically assuage a people that have experienced and endured the pain and agony of neglect, exploitation, degradation disenchantment and cynicism.
The political scientist further said that given the sentiments already expressed, it would make political sense to target the Ijaw ethnic bloc that had shown political character to its right to lead.
“To this end, I appeal to His Excellency Gov. Ifeanyi Okowa, to ‘demystify and repudiate the self-serving and ideological misrepresentations of the proponents of power shift back to the central.
“He acknowledges that this should be a daunting task, as it puts His Excellency in a potential confrontation with that external domination and the class it represents, both of which are more intolerant of challenge than ever.
“Rather than planning to wage wars of attrition against each other as election nears, I advise the Peoples’ Democratic Party to do what is right.
“It is not always going to be about who is right but what is right. Let it take a principled stand like the National Executive Council (NEC) did recently on zoning.
“Let it begin to forge links to keep itself honest, to sustain its sense of purpose, gain clarity and make the best of its resources against foes and tasks that seem more formidable with each passing day,” he added.(NAN)
